A to Z Post - P by Matthew

This post is brought to you by one of the April A to Z Challenge co-hosts: Matthew MacNish.

I was hoping to highlight some of my favorite posts I'd seen on the letter P, but then I realized it will take all day for me to read them.

So instead, I'll just list a few cool things that begin with the letter P, and then maybe mention a couple A to Z Participants.

Pirates - ARHG! Plus - booty.

Poetry - Pentameter even.

Prose - Particularly creative writing.

Pulled Pork - Because, yum.

Pizza - Same.

Paris - I've never been, but they say it's wonderful.

Paladins - Because they're really nice guys.

People - We make the world go round.

Pillow - Because that moment when your head finally hits it ...

And here is one of my favorite blogs from the challenge whose post about today's letter P, is great:

Kristen is a teacher, a writer, a fan of great literature, and a lover of all things revolutionary, so here's her post: Please Don't Dim the Lights.

O for Onward in the #atozchallenge !

This Letter "O" post is brought to you by Damyanti, co-host for the A to Z Challenge.

So we're nearing the finishing line... and I'm thrilled to say a whole lot of us are marching on, commenting widely and often, and having a rollicking good time.

Posting to theme everyday for a month can drain a blogger, however, so to everyone whose energies are flagging, we say, "Onward! We're almost there!"

And now, I'll repeat the advice I've been harping on all month: 

1. Turn off your word verification. It helps no one. You may moderate comments for a while if you're unsure. I still find blogs with the Captcha on, and it makes me feel sorry.

2. In your comment id, link only to your AZ blog, NOT your profile which may have five other blogs. Trolling through ten links to find your A-Z blog is too much to ask any one visiting back.

3. Leave a link to you when you comment, so no one spends hours finding you.

4. Comment when you visit blogs, and you'll get comments in return.

5. Make it easy for people to follow your blog and follow you on social media.

So, Onward, folks-- 9 more days to go, and you'll be a winner! You can do this :)

Don't forget about the May 7th Reflections post.  Save the Date!  Details coming soon.








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N is for No Reply-Comment

N is for No Reply-Comment

I find that bloggers handle responding to comments in one of four ways.  1) They simply don’t, or they do so very sparingly.  2) They answer the comment by leaving a comment of their own on the same post, or they utilize an augmented system that allows replies within the comment screen.  3) They email their reply directly to the commenter. 4) Use a combination of the above.  There is no right way, or wrong way, just the way that best suits what the blogger is most comfortable doing.

After years of experimenting and trying the different methods, I settled into using the third one – emailing my responses.  As with each of these techniques, it has its pluses and minuses.   As an incessant blog-reader, I RARELY return back to a blog to see if the author has responded directly to my comment, so believing that most people operate similarly I chose a method that would ensure they heard my reply.  I also find it more personal and a way to create an open dialogue that extends beyond the post/comment.

I have my blog setup so that I receive an email notification for every comment (remember the smiles?) and I merely reply to that.  Here’s where the main drawback comes in, and this is a big one, a lot of readers still do not have their email address visible through their profile, so when I receive the notification it shows up as No Reply-Comment.  That means I cannot reply back to them as I would like.  Some prefer it this way for security reasons, others simply are unaware.  For those of you who would like to change that, instead of me going through a tutorial (and making this post much longer than I intended), here’s a link to Nancy Olivia’s blog where she explains what to do.

Tell me, how do you handle responding to comments?

DL